House tax bills receive passage from Senate committee

BATON ROUGE- A package of House-approved tax bills estimated to raise $615 million for next year's budget has sailed through its first stop in the Senate amid ongoing budget negotiations.

Without objection Monday, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee advanced 11 bills to rework tax break programs, scale back state subsidies for businesses and raise the state cigarette tax by 32 cents per pack.

Three bills would make an across-the-board cut of 20 percent for most of the state's tax breaks.

The proposals - several of which face opposition from business groups - go next to the Senate budget committee for consideration.

Under the budget advancing in the House, nearly all the money raised by the tax bills would be used to keep higher education from deep cuts next year.